straight along the surface of this earth in the arc of a circle, is a dangerous character. I think Lord Brougham said, "Blessed is the man who has a hobby." It may be dogs. My own illustrated books are all of a very humble character indeed. All small and unpretentious, there are no towering folios among them, no unique editions, no Whatman drawing-paper. Nor did it ever occur to me, in building them up, that I was performing more than a purely selfish act, or anything worthy of the least public attention. I have felt rather ashamed than exalted by my weakness. I shall, therefore, in this essay, lay before you : First. Very briefly, indeed, the account of my life's experience in this department of art. Secondly. Illustrations of the process of this unique book-making. Thirdly. The names, attainment, career (and nature of the work) of the most accomplished men who have fallen victims to this infatuation. Our theme, then, must be illustrated copies in the concrete, their styles and their growth. No matter how severely tempted we may be to enter of Elzevirs, Aldines, Baskervilles, Pickerings, Chiswicks, black-letter, vellum, first editions, large paper, privately printed and uncut copies, by the terms of our invitation we are forbidden the indulgence of this unique luxury. We are also interdicted the princely libraries of our esteemed citizens-Hon. Henry C. Murphy, on American colonial history; J. Carson Brevoort, on early voyages, travels and geography; the now dispersed collection of Thos. W. Field, on the ethnology of the aboriginal Americans; of Whitman W. Kenyon (president-elect of I This was the finest special first collection of works relating to the Indians of America and Indian Antiquities that has ever been gathered in this country. DeBry's "grand collection of voyages are, as every one knows, excessively rare in a perfect state. The set of Mr. Field's was the most perfect ever sold in America. The editor of Mr. Field's sale catalogue (Mr. Sabin) says "that this set was purchased by him at the sale of the library of the late Baron de Sobolewski, of Moscow, in 1873, since which Mr. Field has supplied some of its defects. It now lacks only two leaves in the letter-press of part XIII. Mr. Field also supplied many plates in duplicate. The publication of this great work occupied nearly fifty years. The DeBrysfather, son, and grandson—successively wrought upon this work, which was completed to and included the thirteenth part, which last is the rarest of all. A book-collector of Brooklyn, the most persistent in America, has for twentyfive years vainly sought for this thirteenth part." There was also in this collection Lord Kingsborough's "Antiquities of Mexico"-one of the few with colored prints. It was published at $875. Sold for $225.-John Eliot's "Tears of Repentance," London, 1653, $36.-Eliot's "Further Account," London, 1655, $75.-Eliot's "Brief Narrative," London, 1671, $72.50.---Baron Von Humboldt's “Cordilleras," Paris, 1810, $40.—Marc Lescarbot's “Nouvelle France," Paris, 1618, $110.-" Londoni," 1609, $110. Loudon's "Indian Narratives, 2 vols., London, 1808, $200. -Mather's "War With the Indians, "London, 1676, $100.Samnel Penhallow's "Indian Wars," Boston, 1725, $105. .་་ this association), on art and art culture; Dr. Charles E. West, on Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon literature; Mr. Havemeyer, on general history and political economy; Mr. James Bell, covering the entire field of ancient and modern literature; the thirty thousand volumes of Hon. John R. Reid, of Babylon, on general literature, belles-lettres, and fine arts; the antiquarian and anthropological collection of Hon. E. G. Squier-all of which have no status under our title; and, although I much regret the drawing in of our lines, yet it must be confessed that the field, even thus contracted, is quite broad enough upon which to discuss the ethics of our subject. No greater inspiration is necessary to an unsullied moral life than a full and absolute fellowship with an illustrated copy, full bound, by Matthews, in crushed levant, of Boswell's "Johnson," or of Walton's "Complete Angler"-two books of noble, moral repute, and which take to illustrations more naturally than any other two books in the English language. The Grolier ornamentation, the watered-silk linings, the spotless leaves, the amplitude of margins, the clean sharp-cut typography, the charming and seductive manner in which the skill of an expert has arranged the choicest specimens in India proof of the engraver's art, leaf succeeding leaf of the most exquisite portraits by Longhi, Nanteuil, Morghen, Houbraken, Strange, and Faithorne must broaden the latitude of humanity. I believe a "companionship of art, whether its utterance is in sound, or in word, or in form, is a noble and moral association; its culture penetrates and mingles in the very currents of our blood." And, notwithstanding all this, I still regret that I must take the circumscribed path of the specialist, and turn my back upon the broad road which leads me to the glorious uncut copies of Sir William Jones, Wilkinson, Ferguson, Brunet, Purchas, De Bry, or the twenty-seven gorgeous volumes of L'Art, which rise up in all their rough, half Roxburg majesty before me. But our mission here is monographic. We do not come as idolatrous disciples of the honest old James Granger, the Vicar of Shiplake; we have ---Daniel C. Sanders's "Indian Wars," Montpelier, Vt., 1812, $102.50.-John Smith's "General History of Virginia," London, 1624, $147.-Capt. J. Smith's "True Travels," London, 1630, $147.50. I The first book ever illustrated was by James Granger. It was Granger's "Biographical History of England, from Egbert the Great," and was first published in 1769-quarto, in 2 vols. (To illustrate this work which contained short and pithy notices of every person in England who had an engraved portrait, became quite a mania, and illustrated Grangers became as thick as blackberries, and portraits became correspondingly scarce. The next books selected for privately illustrating were Clarendon's "Rebellion," Burnet's "History of the Reformation, " and Walpole's "Royal and Noble Authors.") It has since undergone four impres been redeemed from "book-madness," and are inexorable in our resolve to buy no more books, even though we die broken-hearted. But humanity is weak; for Five hundred times at least I've said, Buy more old books." Yet lists are made, In these old books which seem to be Nearly fifty years ago I began amusing myself with books by adding an occasional print. Private illustrating was almost an unknown passion in this country at that time. What I mean by privately illustrated books is, books in which prints are inserted which do not belong to the book, but which are pertinent to the subject treated. Under this method, Sometimes the pictures for the page atone, And the text is saved by beauties not its own. The first book which I attempted systematically to illustrate was Giraud's "Birds of Long Island," a work somewhat distinguished for its scientific accuracy, to obtain materials for which I dismembered the rare and splendid quarto volume belonging to the "Natural History of the State of New York." For this piece of vandalism I have never forgiven myself. This was my first little folly. I have committed many and greater since; nor is that man an orthodox collector or a true bibliophile who has not at some time committed a great and foolish extravagance. There are one hundred and forty-seven prints inserted in the text of this book, which is only a common octavo, published by Wiley & Putnam in 1844.2 It is now very rare. Few persons in this room have ever seen it, but, however great the folly in destroying so valuable a book for so insignificant a one, the knowledge incidentally acquired in the science of sions, the last being in 1804-octavo in 4 vols. A continuation of the same, by Rev. Mark Noble, was published in 1807, in 3 vols. So that if the lover of rare and curious prints gets possession of these volumes, with Ames's "Catalogue of English Heads," 1748; Walpole's "Catalogue of Engravings," 1775; Burnley's "Catalogue of Engraved Portraits," 1793, with Catalogues of the Collections of Mr. Barnard, Sir W. Musgrave, Mr. Tysson, Sir James Winter Lake, and a little work, "The Print Collector "---edited by Robert Hoe, Jr., of New York, 1880, he has also put himself in the way of becoming a print-collector. I Natural History of the State of New York. Published by the authority of the State, viz.: "Zoology, Mammalia, Ornithology, Reptiles, Fishes, Mollusca, and Crustacea," by J. deKay; "Botany," by Torrey; "Mineralogy, by L. C. Beck; "Geology," by Wm. W. Mather and E. Emmons; "Paleontology, by J. Hall; Agriculture, by E. Emmons. Together 20 vols. royal 4to, with upward of Soo plates. New York, 1842. Published at $200. 2 "The Birds of Long Island." J. P. Giraud. 8vo. New York, 1844. I ornithology while engaged upon it was most thorough, and was, may be, a full, or more than a full, compensation for the mischief otherwise done. have never been proud of the book, and seldom show it; for no man of culture, especially if he be a naturalist, fails to reprove me for this act-so similar to that of the foolish old lady who cut up a new garment to mend an old one. And I have no doubt some who have seen it, and whose excessive good breeding restrained them from outward demonstration, have inwardly applied to me the words of Sir Isaac Newton to his little dog Diamond, which, during his absence from his study, threw down a lighted candle among his papers and destroyed the labor of years of the great philosopher: “Oh, Diamond! Diamond! thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done. My last book, and which is still unfinished, is a large-paper copy of Dr. Henry R. Stile's "History of the City of Brooklyn." It was commenced thirty years ago. I have illustrated many in the meantime. A great number of prints before the work issued from the press. Although elegance has by no means been neglected in the ensemble of this book, beauty was not the great prime object in view, but the preservation of perishable and perishing material of value relating to the city of Brooklyn. I have added to the original work about two thousand three hundred pages of various kinds of matter and decorations, mostly portraits and prints of old historical landmarks. There are seven hundred and eighty prints, two hundred and sixty pages of new matter in manuscript, sixty photographs, fifty-one old maps (some of them unique), twenty-two original sketches and water-colors, besides original letters, etc. The original three volumes have been extended thus far to nine. The cost of the work up to the present time cannot be much under two thousand dollars, and an approximation to the number of shekels it would take to ransom it under the methods of Bangs, Merwin & Co., providing there is no greater public appreciation of my labor than of Dr. Henry R. Stile's in its original production, would be about one-twentieth of the cost in labor and money which have been bestowed upon it. During this interval-thirty odd years from the production of my first illustrated book and the present-I have done more or less illustrating, probably sixty works in all, or about one hundred and twenty volumes, although a catalogue of the books in my library which have more or less undergone this process of mutilation would possibly exceed three hundred. If I may be permitted, without taxing your patience too much with personal relations, I should say that my love of books was divided between the mere love of having them and the love of using them; hence my passion for illustrated books (which, as a general thing, are useless for study) took such di rection as led to making them of more actual service, and more cyclopedic in their character; consequently my love passed, by gradations, out of the purely artistic into the scientific.1 The love of book-illustrating is an absorbing, fervid passion, indigenous to high emotional temperatures, and hence cannot thrive in the bleak and nipping atmosphere of science. It required too much artificial warmth, too much hothouse nurture, for healthy progress under my amateur methods in science; and, finally, it died out altogether. may not be uninteresting to mention a few examples in this department, marking the stages of decline and surrender of the love for art to science; a capitualtion of Durer, Rembrandt, Hollar, Strothard, and Durand, to Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Wallace, Comte, and Spencer. Among the books illustrated by me, which mark the decline the transition-are Thomas Joseph Pettigrew's "History of the Egyptian Mummy," large paper: this is a large quarto, and an admirable book; "Ancient Symbol Worship," "Phallic Idea in the Religion of Antiquity," a rare and expensive work; Thomas Taylor's "Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries," illustrated by a few prints, all proof; Prof. E. G. Squier's "Serpent Symbol in America," octavo, a very scarce book, and indulgently illustrated; Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera's "Ruins of an Ancient City near Palenque, Central America"; Thomas H. Dyer's "Pompeii," illustrated entirely with photographs taken under my own direction, quarto. Every one of these books was illustrated for the purpose of enhancing its usefulness, and not, of course, entirely without reference to artistic structure. Few indeed, however, among book-illustrators are in sympathy with me on the latter subjects. There is among illustrators a strong prejudice against photographs, and they certainly are not the most desirable illustrations for books, for the reasons-first, their liability to fade; secondly, they are not works of art. But when faithful representation is the great object to be attained, the photograph is invaluable. This book of Dyer was illustrated twenty-six years ago with photographs taken by a Neopolitan operator, and inlaid through a special and ingenious process by Toedteberg. They are as fresh and sharp to-day as when first inserted in the book, and are as pliable as the ordi It has been my custom for over forty years to insert articles, from magazines and newspapers, pertinent to the subjects, in my books for use; many of them are so full as nearly to burst their covers, and some I have been obliged to have rebound to save them. There have been added in this manner to my working library probably thirty thousand articles, varying from a few lines to twenty pages. I commend this practice to students. Many of these articles have been inlaid up to the size of the book for which they were intended, and bound up with it, and I have a number of volumes made entirely in this manner. I nary page. And this is also true of several books in my collection, illustrated entirely with photographs taken in Europe. Under no consideration do I think it desirable, however, to illustrate the same book with a mixture of engravings and photographs. Nor do I deem it the highest taste to illustrate the same book with engravings, drawings, and original sketches, unless it be as specimens of work from the hands of the same artist. The most elegant books are those uniformly illustrated in the same style of art. And now having finished our chapter of egoisms, we will pass on to illustrated books, illuminated palaces, and the methods of their construction. There are no general rules, no formulas, no beaten paths in this department of art-taste and genius are its only guides. Suppose we are in possession of a book privately printed, the edition being limited to one hundred and fifty, an octavo printed on Holland paper, and unbound, in sheets. It is a sketch of the life of Edward Everett.2 Before sending to the binder, it occurs to us that it would be interesting and enhance its value to have a faithful portrait of Edward Everett as a frontispiece,-a contribution from our own hands,—a testimonial of our regard for this accomplished gentleman and scholar. To commemorate the illustrious and venerated dead has been a practice of all ages, all countries, and almost every grade of the human race. The vast pyra mids of Egypt and America, the tumuli of the Greek and Celtic nations, the colossal statues of Polynesian Islands, the cenotaphs to heroes, the bust, the sepulchral monument, and the portrait are so many evidences of the affectionate sympathies of the human heart. After a little search in printstores we find a portrait, a head and bust (very good), engraved by Cheney. It does not, however, stand the test of our criticism, and we determine upon further search for another. We finally obtain one by Parker, and another by Jackman. We are by this time becoming interested in the pursuit, and beginning to feel that we are no longer amateurs in our knowledge of engravers and their works.3 We continue our search, and find another I I have also the London edition of "Infelicia," poems by Adah Isaacs Menken, 1868, with head- and tail-pieces, and a dedication by Dickens. The size of the book is five and a quarter inches by four. It is illustrated by thirty-eight portraits of the authoress in photograph, by Sarony, taken in Paris; they are inlaid by the above process, and are but little thicker than the ordinary page; they lie as smoothly as the other pages of the book; they show no signs of fading, although they were inserted there twenty-five years ago. 2 "Tribute to the memory of Edward Everett," by the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, at Boston Massachusetts. Boston, 1865. 3 Mr. J. O. Wright, of New York, who has had a vast experience in prints, says: "I commenced collecting prints twenty-five years ago, when books now valuable for their portrait by Pelton (a poor one); then another by Smith-the last a folio; then another fine impression of a beautiful unfinished portrait of Edward Everett in his youth, by Gilbert C. Stuart. So we go on getting prints and acquiring knowledge of engravings and engravers, developing unconsciously an enthusiasm for our work, until we have twentyseven engraved portraits of Edward Everett, illustrating his life from the age of sixteen to sixty. At this stage of our work an old-print collector calls upon us, and politely allows us to look over his small collection. Fortuitously, we find a print of the birthplace of Everett, and also one of his library; these, of course, we must have. We also find one of his uncle, T. H. Perkins, and a few of his contemporaneous literary friends, all mentioned in the text of our book; of course we want them, and we buy them. Our collection has now reached seventy-five prints in all, and has cost us about twenty-five dollars-an enormous sum for one book. This was our first experience, and not being familiar with the perspective of the subject, we begin to suspect that ruin lurks in this book-illustrating, and we resolve upon carrying the folly no further. In another week, however, we have fairly recovered from the last extravagance, and, with the old passion revived and recruited, we enter more extensively the field of contemporaneous literary friends, poets, and compatriots of our hero, and of persons mentioned and referred to in our book. Thus we go on, alternating between this alluring mania and our good resolves, until we have collected nearly five hundred prints, at an expense probably of one hundred and eighty dollars, many of which prints are too large, others too small, for our book. To reduce the first is a simple process; to extend the latter is our first real difficulty, but it must be overcome-they frontispieces only were daily thrown into the waste-paper well for peddlers to buy at a few cents per pound. I have given away scores of portraits that cost me a penny only, but which are now worth from five to ten dollars each. The difference between 1863 and 1891 cannot be better marked than by the quotation at the earlier date of 2s. 6d. for the first edition of 'Milton's History of Britain,' with the Faithorne portrait, the print alone now being worth $10. Those were days when Knight's portraits on India paper sold for $20, the Earlom and Turner mezzotints for $10, effigies poeticae on India paper $15, and the smaller mezzotint portraits not considered cheap at 25 cents each. If book-illustration has done nothing else, it has indirectly preserved thonsands of volumes from the pulp-mill, and to-day, when only process prints are used by the publishers, millions of engravings owe their survival to individuals who have been classed as fiends, iconoclasts, etc. Call it personal gratification, or what you will, the fact remains; and the early so-called grangerites, apparently devoid of taste, pitchforking prints into folios badly mounted, sometimes mutilated, have done posterity much service. We may destroy their labor by working up such poor work, but, properly inlaid and fitly placed, the gems are once more preserved to amuse or instruct generations, who will be honest enough to look on the pursuit as something more than a weakness or hobby," must all be brought to a uniform size with our book. For this service we call to our aid the professional man—the inlayer-of whom there are but a few in this country worthy of mention—Messrs. Trent, Toedteberg, and Lawrence, all of Brooklyn, and Poole of Boston. The work turned out by these gentlemen is of the first order, far superior to that of the best English and French inlayers. We call upon one of these gentlemen with our prints, and lay our plans before him. He being busy, we are advised to call again; in the meantime he will look over our collection, and determine the best course for us to pursue. We call again; and out of our five hundred prints he has discarded three hundred as not of sufficient pertinency or worth as works of art to enhance either the beauty or value of our enterprise. Concurrence is the only thing left us, and more than half our purchase is thrown out. We now begin to realize that we have paid dearly for our "whistle;" but even whistles have a market value in experimental education. Two years more in the business, and we defer to the opinion of no man. We have outgrown the folly of purchasing prints because they are portraits. That delusion has faded, and we have awakened to the consciousness that we are collecting portraits because they are prints. He also advises us that it would not be in good taste to cut the large prints down to the size of the book, but that it would be better, leaf by leaf, to build the book up. There are some woodcuts of superior quality in the collection, taken from illustrated papers, magazines, etc., which it would be desirable to preserve; but they have printed matter on the back, rendering them inadmissible in their present state. He informs us that he is acquainted with a process by which he can split the sheets of newspaper, and take the print (text) from the back. Again, some of our prints are "foxed"-that is, spotted, soiled—and must be cleaned to make first-class work; all of which we conclude to have done, and which entails an expense of about ninety dollars. The process mentioned of inlaying the text and prints may be briefly described as follows: First is the selection of paper of the proper quality, and the size to which our book is to be extended. The leaves of the book being of uniform size, the inlaying of it (that is, the text) is, of course, a simple repetition of the operation as many times as there are leaves in the volume. Not so, however, with the prints; no two are probably of the same size or shape-square, oblong, round, oval, and some irregular; thus every print requires its special treatment. After the prints have been neatly cut down to their required shapes, then the outer edges are beveled, the bevel extending about one quarter of an inch upon the margin of the print. This is performed with a knife made for the purpose. An opening is then cut into the sheet of the size and shape of the print making an allowance for a quarter of an inch lap on the inside, which is also beveled to conform with the print. These outer edges are then fastened together with paste made of rice flour. Rice paste is considered more desirable for the reason that it retains is whiteness when dry. They are then placed under gentle pressure until required for use. The splitting process is performed by pasting the sheet to be split between two pieces of stuff, and in separating the stuffs one half adheres to each side. In about six weeks we receive our book and prints, built up, extended, inlaid, or cut down to a uniform large quarto. Nothing can exceed its beauty; to say that we are proud of it does in no sense express our emotion; it is our realization of a grand ideal. Our prints must now be placed to the text, and numbered or paged, to guard against displacement in the binding process. Here, so far as possible, it would be well to observe chronological order in the arrangement of the portraits; a harmony as to seasons of the text-and views must not be disregarded—a summer view and a winter text are incongruous. It is also preferable to use prints which were engraved contemporaneously with the events of the text; it gives additional interest, as well as historic value. These observations apply to books like our "Everett," illustrated entirely by portraits and views already extant, and which have only to be selected-the proper historical arrangement and disposal of which, however, require no ordinary skill in even the simplest book. Having now collated our prints and text, we discover that we have too much material for one volume, and we determine on having it bound in two. To this end a new title-page becomes necessary for the additional volume. This can either be printed in facsimile, or made with a pen and ink by an expert. Of this class of experts my acquaintance is limited to one representative only-Mr. Charles B. King of New York-who will duplicate a title-page or copy text with unerring exactness. Obtaining our titlepage, our book is complete and ready for the binder. And now, notwithstanding we have just cause to be proud of our accomplishment, let us not suffer the notion to run away with us that we have mastered the science of book-illustrating. All that we have accomplished is merely elementary-the A, B, C of the art, a status pupillari-and yet I believe the higher attainments are never properly acquired except through these smaller beginnings. Gentlemen with unlimited means within their control have confessed to me that their mistake was in commencing with Shakespeare, Boswell's "Johnson," Dibdin, Walton, before they had mastered the elements. "Learn to swim," says Pepys, "in shallow water." There are no graduates and no degrees conferred in this school; the field is as broad and boundless as contemporary art and literature. There are booksproper books for illustrating-which require the illustrator who has the boldness to enter the realms of original sketches and drawings to comprehend the exploits of chivalry, the fairy legend, the solemn allegory, or the science of antiquarian research, not less than the author himself. We must have all the tenderness of Walton, the patriotism of Washington, brave the tempest with King Lear, laugh with Cervantes or Rabelais, grieve with Thomas à Kempis or Jeremy Taylor, toil up the hill of science with Newton, Herschel, Leibnitz, Draper, Proctor, and Lubbock-in other words, he must have a love for his work, without which it cannot rise above a mere pretense, a picture-book, a soulless mechanism. And even with books in which we do not attempt to illustrate these sentiments or emotions, they must be felt and appreciated, that we may avoid the violence which, through ignorance, we might otherwise commit. But our "Everett" must go to the binder, in the selection of whom care must be observed; for every bookbinder has an individuality and a method not consistent with all classes of work nor with all tastes. Nevertheless, a first-class bookbinder is more than a mechanic-he is an artist; and there are men who have immortalized' themselves in the bibliopegic art, as Payne, Dawson, Hering, Fauikner, Mackinlay, Lewis, Bedford, Riviere, and Zaehnsdorf, in England, and Derome, Bradel, Niedree, Duru, Cape, Lortic, Nodier, Koehler, and Bauzonnet in France; and we have some in America, as Matthews, Bradstreet, Smith, Macdonald, and Pawson and Nicholson. Not all the violence of Rembrandt, Hayden, or Claude, in light and shadow, excels in effect, at first blush, some of the marvelous creations in the art of bookbinding and book-decoration; and there was a period in Europe during which the rage for fine bindings reached a greater pitch of absurdity than it ever has for books or paintings—that is, they were held at and fetched more fabulous prices 3 At a recent sale in London, a book bound by Roger Payne sold for over $600, mainly on account of the binding. The copy of Aschylus in the library of Earl Spencer was bound by him and the earl paid for it 16.10s. Payne could earn with his nondescript tools in his dingy cellar 10 guineas in a few days; but in twenty years of his besotted career he did not lay up enough to purchase a coffin for his haggard remains. He died a pauper, and was buried by the parish. 2 George Trautz was born at Pforzheim in 1808. He went to Paris in 1830. In 1833 he entered as a gilder in the bookbinding establishment of Bauzonnet. From the first Trautz brought the work of his master into prominence by the taste and richness of its ornamentation. In 1869 he was created a knight of the Legion of Honor being the first binder who has attained to that distinction. He died November 6, 1879, aged 72 years. 3 The finest specimen of bibliopegy of the eighteenth century, the masterpiece of Derome, is a copy of the "Contes de La Fontaine" (1762, 2 volumes, 8vo, bound in citron morocco, with compartments in colors, representing fruits and flowers.) For this copy M. Brunet paid frs. 675 at the Bedoyere sale. It was bought for frs. 7,100 at his own sale, by Augustus Fontaine. A Bordeaux book-col |